Media Influence

Before Luke came along, our TV rule for Cole was that he could watch one hour of TV a day. But as soon as the morning sickness from my pregnancy with Luke began, TV became a neccessary evil. He still doesn't watch that much, in my opinion. But I have learned that kids are sponges! They are such prime targets for all the advertisements that come on during spongebob commercial breaks. They totally soak it all up. For example:

Cole said to me excitedly, "Mommy, do you know what they're doing with Benda-roos? They're doubling them with your paid order!"

He's also asked me out of the blue, "Mommy, are you 18 or older?"

One day, we were in the car and I started singing, "Everywhere we go-o, people wanna know-o, who we a-are..." (This is how a commercial for frosted flakes starts but that wasn't why I was singing it.) Cole broke in immediately with,
"Tigers are not afraid to get dirty, but they always play clean. They work hard and eat right with Kelloggs Frosted Flakes, part of this nutritious breakfast."

Just the other day, I was unloading the dishwasher and I knew that Clay was the one who had started the dishwasher. I was finding some dishes that weren't very clean looking so I said under my breath, "Oh, Clayton Glade..." Cole heard and said, "No, it's not Clayton Glade's fault. I saw a commercial that said that some dishwasher soaps don't get your dishes totally clean, so someone invented something that does get them totally clean".

Cole has also told me how at McDonald's their giving "customizable spongebob toys" in kidsmeals.

Maybe having him only watch movies would be a good solution.

Some Yucky Boy Humor

Cole was sitting at the table like this with his big bendy straw going from his mouth to his ear when he said, "My mouth wants to taste earwax and my ear wants to hear tastebuds!"

I told Clay about this and he didn't seem to find it as hilarious as I did. Nonetheless, here it is.

Disneyland!

My little boy turned five on May 20th! He had decided a while ago that he wanted to go to Disneyland on his birthday (since he knew about the promotional "visit free on your birthday" thing). So on his birthday we woke up at 5:00am, got ready and headed to Disneyland. (Cole would like me to add that that morning he had "puffs" cereal for breakfast, but it's actually corn "pops" cereal.) We were one of the first cars to arrive there, which was pleasing to both of us (I've mentioned before that I beleive in staying at a theme park for the maximum amount of hours possible). At the ticket booth Cole got his free ticket and a "Happy Birthday" button. The button ended up being a really cool thing because every time we passed a disneyland employee (or cast member, rather) they would be sure to wish Cole a Happy Birthday.


As we waited just outside the gates for Disneyland to open, with just 5 minutes to go, I had my map in hand with the route in mind that I wanted us to take. We would go straight to Tomorrow Land to get in line for Space Mountain. This has always been my favorite ride (although I hadn't been on it since I was in middle school and went there with the marching band). I was so excited that Cole was finally tall enough to ride Space Mountain and I was sure that he would love it--the outer space theme, no sudden drops or falls. Well...I was wrong. He screamed the whole way, of coarse I couldn't tell during the ride if they were excited "wow this is awesome" screams or screams of sheer terror. After the ride I found the latter to be true. He said, "I wish we had never gone on this". I decided then and there that Cole would be choosing EVERY ride from that moment on. Here he is after riding space mountain showing that he's tall enough and that he did it!

I think the Finding Nemo ride was his favorite; we did that one twice. We also did pirates of the Carribean twice. He love's the part where some pirates are locked up in jail and are trying to get the dog with the keys in its mouth to come over to them. So as his souvenir he chose a mangy looking stuffed dog with keys in its mouth.






We also enjoyed the "Celebrate" parade at the end of the day. Afterward we squeezed in as many more rides as we could before the park closed at 9:00.



We had such a fun day. I love Cole so much!

Perspective

Sometimes in life, it helps to look at things from a different angle.
I love it when Luke poses like this and smiles big at us, couldn't capture the smile this time. But this picture does show off his trademark freckle.

Steel Magnolias and Mom

I never really noticed magnolias before we moved to New Orleans. When I did notice them, I thought of Alice in Wonderland, when the Queen of Hearts has the playing cards paint the white roses red. I guess the image of painting the big, white magnolias red was kind of a fun thought at the time. But then, they are so beautiful in plain white. In New Orleans, they seemed such a contrast to what was going on beneath the magnolia tree tops; the squalor, the filth, the hoodlums walking by (of course, I judged nearly everyone I saw to be a hoodlum.) But don't get me wrong, New Orleans has more going for it than just pretty flowers.
Where we live now, Magnolia trees line many of the streets. I love them.
I can't write about magnolias without mentioning the movie "Steel Magnolias". I love that movie too. So what does that title mean? Steel is hard and strong and sturdy. Magnolias are a pretty flower. So loosely it means "a strong, pretty thing"?

Strong and pretty.

My mom. She is the most beautiful woman in the world. And strong? You better believe it! She's a steel magnolia, right along with Sally Field and Daryl Hannah. Happy Mother's Day, Momma! I love you!

Pirates

High School has been about two things for my little brother Mikey: basketball and musical theater. Maybe you could throw in a third: girls.
Cole and I went on a date to see Mikey as "Samuel" in "The Pirates of Penzance". We loved it!!!! I had never seen this play before or heard any of the music, except for the one song "I am the very model of a modern major-general". Does that ring any bells for anyone else? It was so fun.
I always leave a musical wanting to sing. Not just the music from the production, but...everything, every word. I feel to sing on my way out of the theater, "That was such a lovely play! Now shall we go home, but wait, we must stop at the bathroom first, wouldn't you agree, yes wouldn't you agree, yes wouldn't you agree..." to some sing-songy tune. I've asked Clay before if he thinks that maybe in heaven we could all just sing everything that we want to say. No speaking allowed. That would be heavenly for me at least. He makes fun of me for that. But still, I think it would be wonderful.

A new place

The kids in my primary class were telling me about this fun place at the mall that I had never heard of before. So me and the boys went to check it out. It was fun, but we would love to have some cousins with us next time.

Spelunkers

spelunker: someone who explores caves, esp. as a hobby.

One of Cole's favorite parts of the zoo is the play cave. He loves to climb all through the darkness and Luke is starting to enjoy it too.

Casey, Annie, and Elmo

Last weekend, we had a lovely excuse to go visit our families: cousin Blake's 2nd birthday! First we stopped at Clay's parents for a short visit. Cole and Luke love to play with the dogs!


We had a great time at Blake's "Elmo" birthday party. Breanne had their apartment decorated so cute and, how sweet, each of the kids got a gift. Cole had so much fun playing with Blake and Matthew (Blake's uncle.)

Visitors

After living here for 9 months, we were so happy to finally have some of my family come and see us (not that it had been 9 months since seeing my family; we visit them for any and all reasons I can come up with.)
Anyway, my mom, my sister Amanda and her husband Jared, and their little boy, Connor, came early in the morning and stayed with us for the day. My mom treated us all to an afternoon at an indoor playgound. I like to go to this playground because it's close enough to walk. And walking there means taking in all the scenery: the walking man statue, the trains, the old-fashioned, overpriced shops, etc.
They had to leave before traffic got crazy, but still it was nice to see them.